[CQ-Contest] Convergence and Change

[Peter Chamalian]

I'm in the same boat as Jim.  Single op means just that and I don't think we
should blur the lines with assisted, 2 radios, etc.  Think of it this way,
for the new contester, learning the tricks of the trade come with work (all
us OT's have done it).  It would be like giving a kid learning arithmetic a
calculator.  You never learn to do it in your head.  The same is true for
contesting single op!

I'm one who has had the pleasure of doing it the old fashioned way for many
years with some success.  There is a joy in that so let's not deprive those
who are coming up the ladder of that joy.

BTW I do remember KH6IJ, KX6DB, W4KFC and W9IOP.  I remember them not only
in SS but ARRL DX too.  Back in the day of quotas (remember those?), you
could tune up the band and hear an OK with a pile-up of W's then a G with a
pile-up of W's then W4KFC with a pile-up Europeans!

So let's keep the distinction and praise the iron men and women to go into
battle only with their single radio and wits!


Pete, W1RM

-----Original Message-----
From: CQ-Contest [mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Jim
Neiger
Sent: Saturday, May 14, 2016 6:17 PM
To: CQ-Contest at contesting.com
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Convergence and Change

I was saddened to read Randy K5ZD's article entitled *Convergence and
Change*, page 27 of the May 2016 CQ Magazine.

Obviously Randy has succumbed to the *dark side* of the force and chooses to
operate Assisted, and in his last sentence, he's wondering when the rest of
us will see these merits and "have access to spotting information"?  Huh?
But looking at his smiling face on Page 24 of the CW Contest Results, with
No. 1 World for Assisted, maybe he knows something that I don't?  That he
would just operate 48 hours and have everyone copy calls for him, and all he
needs to do is point and shoot on his computer screen, and voila -  easy
breezy.  I can guarantee I do not look so rested, content, smiling after I
just slogged through 48 hours of *REAL* DXing, copying calls, busting
pileups, dealing with wonderful RBN that Randy so cherishes - putting one
hundred S-5 stations all zero beat on my run frequency.  Hmmm, maybe Randy's
on to something??

But what if we don't want to have others find our DX for us? What if we
still want to see if we can copy calls ourselves?

I first met Randy 25 years ago when he visited our home in Anaheim Hills,
California, and my wife whipped up a pot of spaghetti for us.  My
impressions of Randy:  smart, enthusiastic, hungry, and showed definite
potential as a serious contester. Little did I know he would end-up needing
assistance.  Boy was I wrong.

And Randy, I do take some exception to your first paragraph in your article.
Running was happening many years before computers ever showed.  Let's see, I
did my first contest from DX as KX6DB in 1967; my first computer operation
from ZD8Z wasn't until 1991. I guess that's 24 years of running.  And
hunting.  And of course, KH6IJ was running when I first called him in ~
1955.  And you never lived until you heard W9IOP or W4KFC run in the
Sweepstakes.

Some think that *all *technological innovations are a blessing and all must
adapt, or perish.  I can readily list a dozen advances in science and
technology that none of us want.

Yes, Randy, you're right, contesting has been impacted by the convergence of
skills with technologies, and yes, some people, like yourself, have more
"fun" with it.  But as your surveys would seem to show, most of rather find
our "fun" the old fashioned ways.

Vy 73

Jim Neiger  N6TJ


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